Pen Review: Nemosine Fission

Nemosine is a pen brand with which I wasn’t familiar when I purchased a used Fission from a member of the FPGeeks forum. The company is based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, but their pens are manufactured in China/Taiwan. As fan of many of the Chinese pen brands, not to mention brands like Monteverde which outsource their manufacturing to China, I was intrigued by the Nemosine.

With a list price of $50USD (and retail prices around $25 in some locations), The Nemosine Fission is a solidly-built and clean-lined metal body pen. It comes in a variety of colors including light blue, red, gunmetal, white, black, navy blue, nickel, and pewter. The pen I purchased was navy blue, and came in a lovely, high-gloss finish with chromed hardware and fittings. The heftier weight that comes with a metal pen results in a very solid-feeling, well-built instruments that seems capable of taking some abuse. (In fact, it feels solidly built enough that you could probably do some damage by hitting people with it, although that may void your warranty…)

The clip of the pen has a capital “N” embossed at the top of the clip. The “ball” of the clip is folded metal, which appears to be done in such a way that it won’t easily catch on shirt pockets or the like. The clip has a lovely, clean profile, which lends to the contemporary looks of the pen. It is very stiff (almost too much so), and should hold itself well in a pocket, despite being a bit on the heavy side.

The section of the pen is also chromed metal, and can get a little slippery if you’re the kind of person who gets sweaty hands. And it does pick up fingerprints like crazy, as do most metal sections.

The feed is a relatively standard plastic feed.

The pen can be posted, and comes with threads on the bottom of the barrel that allow you post the pen quite securely. When posted, the pen is rather long, but even with it posted, it is extremely well-balanced in my hand, not seeming even the slightest bit back-weighted.

I do have some questions about the durability of the finish. It feels almost like an enamel, but I’m fairly certain it is not. It’s probably a powder-coated paint or some such thing. My pen, which is used, does have a couple of minor scratches in the finish, but those were in the pen prior to my having received it, so I don’t know the scenarios that led to those scratches. In any case, none of the scratches are deep enough that you can see through the finish to the metal underneath.

The Nib

One of the more interesting thing about Nemosine pens is that their #6-sized stainless steel nibs come in a couple of sizes that are not readily available from other pen manufacturers: a 0.6mm and 0.8mm stub. I do like stub nibs, but a 1.1mm stub tends to be a bit too wide for my personal style of handwriting, so I find these to be an interesting option. I’m uncertain who makes the nibs for Nemosine, but they do state “Made in Germany” on the nib itself.

My pen came with a 0.6mm stub which fits my writing style quite nicely. Like many less-expensive factory stub nibs, this nib has no tipping material, the steel itself having been ground directly to produce the stub. It writes quite smoothly, and has a moderate ink flow that is just a hint on the dry side. (I haven’t attempted to increase the ink flow yet, as I haven’t had any great desire or need to.) I find that the nib prefers a smoother paper, as it had a tendency to choke a bit on the textured or more absorbent papers like G. Lalo Verge de France or New Leaf.

When it comes to line variation, don’t expect to get any via flexion of the tines. This nib is a nail. It’s a very smooth nail, but there is nothing in the way of springiness or flex in this nib at all.

I also find the nib’s butterfly-like stamped design to be quite attractive.

Writing Experience

Overall, I find myself moderately impressed by the writing experience with the Nemosine Fission. The pen is comfortable to hold, and unposted, I find the weight to be in that very comfortable zone between too light and too heavy. I was able to write several pages without experiencing any fatigue.

The feed appears capable of keeping up with longer writing sessions, and the smooth nib does some good things to my handwriting without requiring me to change my writing style too drastically. As mentioned earlier, the chromed section did tend to get just a touch slippery if I got to gripping to hard or ended up with sweaty hands.

Overall, though, I’m impressed by this pen. It feels solid and well-built enough that I would feel comfortable giving this pen as a first pen to a new fountain pen user. It is sturdy enough, yet affordable enough, that I would have no hesitancy in recommending it as an everyday carry. And those unique nib sizes really do set the pen apart a bit from other options in this price range.